Red Hots
by bordeaux cookies
Summary: "I smell something hot in here..." he murmured in his husky voice.     She giggled, leaning down from her perch on the desk. "Really?" she wondered seductively.     He winked in reply, saying, "You know it." Max watched Brigid and Fang in disgust. FAX AU AH!


~.* **RED HOTS ***.~

* * *

><p>"I smell something hot in here..." he murmured in his husky voice, his dark hair shrouding his intimidating onyx eyes. She giggled, leaning down from her perch on the desk.<p>

"Really?" she wondered seductively. He winked in reply, saying, "You know it." And then came a sloppy make out session.

Max rolled her eyes, as she watched in disgust, turning her head away from the horrific couple.

Nick "Fang" Ride, and Brigid Dwyer. The hot bad-boy, and the obnoxious smart-aleck. Well, book-smart. Max would've been the smart aleck if it was a competition of wits, or if it was street-smart.

"Eh hem!" the teacher, Mr. Flanagan said, clearing his throat. "No PDA in school grounds!" He was a short, stout old man, but extremely kind. He never gave homework, claiming he was too lazy to create and grade it, but his test were worth studying for. His Irish accent was magnified, as his loud voice boomed through the classroom so those in the back – Fang and Brigid – would hear.

Groaning, they separated, as Max sighed in relief. She could actually see now. The acid burning in her eyes was gone.

Max and Fang surprisingly used to be best buds, along with their friends Iggy, Nudge and Ella. Now, it was just them. No Fang. He had 'packed up his bags' and moved to where the jocks and cheerleaders sat one day, abandoning them. That was the first strike.

They wouldn't of minded as much,_ if _he still talked to them. It was his choice where he wanted to sit for lunch either way. It was a free country. But, he lost all means of connection – not even when they crossed paths in the hallways in between class periods. They didn't sit by each other, in the mere classes they actually shared together, and if they had to work together, it was forced. This was the second.

The last, and final blow, was when he asked Brigid Dwyer out. Brigid wasn't slutty, or dumb. She was well on her way of becoming Valedictorian next year. The only problem with Brigid, was that she was conceited, thinking everyone was way out of her league. That is, besides Fang. Brigid was also highly obnoxious, loving to cache all the attention, and be the center of spot-light. Max wouldn't of doubted that Brigid thought the world revolved around her.

Fang wasn't the Fang Max had known before he had change. To think, Max had feelings for him, besides friendship before, knowing he'd never return them. Now, all she felt was hatred, pity, and sorrow.

But she couldn't understand _why_. Why did he abruptly have a change of heart? Why did he leave his old friends, who he _knew_ would risk their life – most of the time – for the other?

And so she decided that Fang was a jerk. _Nick_ was a jerk. The biggest there was. She didn't know what to think of him anymore.

* * *

><p>By the end of the year, Fang had broken up with Brigid. Maybe it was the other way around. Either way, they had split. No one knew why. Their relationship was actually consistent, and they remained loyal to each other. Perhaps Brigid had moved on, and found someone who exceeded her standards, or flattered her with unnecessary compliments. Or was it Fang had found a new love?<p>

Both rumors were floating down the halls of high school – all they ever talked about. It was the endless buzz of the bees.

_"Hey did you hear about Fang and Brigid?"_

_"Did you know Brigid..."_

_"Brigid's got a new guy in her life."_

_"Fang and Brigid split!"_

_"OH EM GEE! FANG IS FREE! AIEEE!" _Yes, Max did actually hear that.

_"I heard from _Fang_ himself he's in love with someone..." _When Max learned of this new canard, she stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a little _pang_ in her heart, but pushed it aside as if it wasn't there.

Was it possible she had an emotion other than hate conflicting within her heart and mind? Negative. But then, why would, no, why _is_ she feeling this way? All those feelings that had tightly been bolted in a safe, deep inside her were reappearing at the surface again. And she hated it.

He was a jerk, _remember_? And he's _still_ a jerk. Nothing new; all old news.

Max sat in Mr. Flanagan's class, early again, munching on some candy she had recently purchased from the school vending machine. Mr. Flanagan had been in the class earlier, but he had to run some emergency copies, down in the high school office.

She reclined back in the chair, and closed her eyes, tasting the cinnamon spice of the red hots on her tongue. Glancing up at the clock, Max realized there still was seven minutes until class began, and the other students returned from lunch. There still was time to sleep.

And then the door burst wide open.

Fang.

Max groaned inwardly, as she glared at him from her half-closed eyelids. He smirked, his usual smugness radiating off him.

"I smell something hot in here..." he said cockily.

"Like what, dipwad, the _RED HOTS _I'm eating? Glad you can use your senses," Max shot back. She half expected Fang to roll his bottomless obsidian eyes, and retort an insult in her direction. Instead, his eyes softened. It almost made Max melt like it used too. But she was fired up in anger from his sudden change.

"What? First we're friends, and then we're not, and now you're, what, expecting everything to return to normal now that you've broken up with Brigid?" she exclaimed, fueled by fury.

He shook his head, his dark hair covering over his olive face. "You've heard the other rumors then..." Fang wondered.

"What do you think I am? Deaf? That's all _anyone_ here that has no life talks about."

"So you've heard about my 'mysterious love'?" Fang asked, walking closer to the table she was sitting at, still eating my cinnamon treats.

"That _was_ one of the rumors, was it not?" He smirked again.

"Let's try this again, shall we? I smell something hot in here..." Fang restated. This time, instead of retaliating some snappy comment, Max threw a red hot at him, which he skillfully caught in his mouth.

"Take it then! I don't want them anymore!" she shouted, crossing her arms against her chest. Fang rolled his eyes.

"You don't get it, do you?" he asked, almost _tiredly_?

"I understand perfectly fine. You're here to steal my candy. Now take it, and _leave_, please!" she yelled at him. Yet he didn't 'take it and leave'. He stepped even closer.

"You don't understand Max. It was you all along. I choose _you_, Max," Fang whispered, staring intently into Max's eyes. The eyes he had admired ever since second grade, when the two first met.

How he came to losing Max, and joining Brigid, he didn't know. It was something he regretted, and wished he never did. Because it had hurt Max so much, even though she tried not to show it.

_He_ had hurt Max.

Now Fang was asking to start a relationship? Unbelievable. But in his eyes, showed genuine concern, guilt, and remorse. He was sorry for his actions.

Max opened her mouth, and shut it again. She cleared her thoughts out of her head, and went with what came naturally. "I _am_ pretty hot aren't I?" she laughed.

Fang scowled at her. "Shut up and kiss me you idiot."

And Max happily obliged.


End file.
